Acoustic Botany

Genetically Engineered Sound Garden.
The debate around Genetic Engineering is currently centered around vital issues such as food, healthcare and the environment. However, we have been shaping nature for thousands of years, not only to suit our needs, but our most irrational desires. Beautiful flowers, mind altering weeds and crabs shaped like human faces all thrive on these desires, giving them an evolutionary advantage. By presenting a fantastical acoustic garden, a controlled ecosystem of entertainment, I aim to explore our cultural and aesthetic relationship to nature, and to question its future in the age of Synthetic Biology.

Singing flower. Because the parasite diverts the plant’s energy for its own purposes, only small flowers manage to grow.

Modified Agrobacterium takes sugars and nutrients from the host plant to encourage the growth of parasitic galls and fill them with gas to produce sound.

Lab Testing Rig: Factors like tension and temperature are modulated to fine tune the sound.

The String-Nut and its symbiont: bugs engineered to chew in rhythm.

Desired traits such as volume, timbre and harmony are acquired through selective breeding techniques.

Desired traits such as volume, timbre and harmony are acquired through selective breeding techniques.